His Words

Adversity generally means hardship, misfortune, disaster, distress, difficulties - terms that we don't want to encounter in our lives. But who in this world did not experience such things? During these times, we mostly felt discouraged and in despair especially if the amount of these "tests" is superb in quantity. Though we see them as setbacks, for Him it is a great time for advancement. His purpose is not to destroy us but to provide us moment in stimulating our spiritual growth. I know sometimes we can't explain why those things are happening to us and can't totally understand it, we can't see the purpose, we can't identify the reason why He is giving us such hard times. we might ask ourselves, "Why me? Did I do something wrong? Why is this happening to me? Why do you hate me so much?". Well, as they say, we shouldn't lean on our own understanding. In Isaiah 55:8-9, it says there: "⁸ 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. ⁹ 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Every difficulties that are entering in our lives have full permission from God and it is according to His will. But this doesn't mean that these things are His perfect will, instead, He is preparing us into something special and He wants to use these moments to accomplish greater things for our lives and most importantly, to lead us into spiritual maturity and apply the true meaning of confidence, trust and faith in Him. Also, let us be reminded and admit to ourselves that we have limited perspective and understanding on what He is doing especially when the time comes that these adversities are senseless and can't figure out what's going on. He sees every aspect of our lives and ensures us that He is in control and our view is restricted to what is right before us. We can't see everything, we can't define everything and we can't explain everything but He is the ultimate one who can accomplish it.

So if we come to a point when we really don't understand His ways, let's focus on His perfect knowledge, wisdom and power rather than the magnitude of our sorrow. Always put in our minds that He sees the entire picture and that He loves us more than we can imagine. This is a time to walk by faith as perfect understanding comes only in heaven.

For sure we have been praying for something that requires us to wait and provide more time for His final answers. The outcome could be "yes", "no" and "not this time". One thing that we should understand is that there is victory in waiting, there are rewards behind it and be ensured that He has always the best plan in our lives, so don't give up but instead rejoice and be strong in waiting. We can see the reasons behind it from Isaiah 40:28-31, on which states:

28 Do you not know?

    Have you not heard? 

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

He will not grow tired or weary, 

    and his understanding no one can fathom. 

29 He gives strength to the weary 

    and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall; 

31 but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength. 

They will soar on wings like eagles; 

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

On the above Scriptures, one blessing that we can received from Him during the delays is a renewed strength. If we continue to follow Him and increase our faith, He will pour out to us His energy and that His Spirity will continue to lift us up. For every decisions that we make, it is better to wait and pray for it because behind every battle that we are facing, God is fight in our behalf. There is no verse in the bible that says that we should control and fight our own battles. He is always there for us, giving us hope and assurance of His great purposes and reasons for every situation. We should be patient and continue to trust Him. I have posted something on my Facebook wall that my prayers haven't been answered for two months. I waited for His answers that faith and trust were always there and the fruit was an answered prayers in two consecutive days. 

When we read the bible, we notice that a victory was given to every God's saints who were waiting and trusting in the Lord? We can do the same thing, just wait for the perfect time and the triumph will be revealed to us. Just remember that He is always on our side, He is always doing the best thing on our behalf and by that, we can't lose. Just like in the song, "and if our God is with us, then what could against?".

On the 6th of February, Pastor Christie gave a moving and very inspirational teaching. It was about moving on, forgetting the past and embrace the future that waits us by starting "today" and do the necessary. Every year, we are doing this new year's resolution but sometimes we were able to do it for the first few months then will get back to old doings. We can always start a new beginning and ensure to be strong and hold on to it. Seek His power and feel His love to us.

1. How to sieze the day to live a more fulfilling life? (John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full) Jesus Christ died on the Christ so that we can have an eternal life and live it to the fullest. We shouldn't be wasting our time thinking of the past, let's enjoy it by praising Him and do His ways. We might be abused physically or mentally on the past but by praying everything will be forgotten. Don not live on the past.

2. How to live life abundantly? Pastor gave this keys: a) forget the bad / b) Do not dwell on the past to wrap your future - In our every decision, don't look back to the past instead, plan it by visioning the future as the past may hold our hearts and can't move on to embrace what awaits to us / c) Let Go and let God - Let put Him in control, let go of the past and forget those painful days, just pray and believe that He will guide us into His path / d) Live the life of Jesus in You - We should be living a life based on His ways and how He wants us to be the leader of our lives. Obey His commands and be inspired by His power and life.

Isaiah 43:18-19 - 18) Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19) See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Luke 23:43 - Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Last night was another caregroup session for Joseph 1. Again, I have learned a lot of things from His words and truly it was really amazing and fulfilling. The topic was about on how we can restart or refresh our relationship with Him. It was a fit topic as it was the first CG of the year and we just faced 2011. The main verse of the night was:

Isaiah 43:18-19 - 18) Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19) See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

It was very clear that we should forget the past and live with the present and continue to look forward. In order to accomplish this, we have to consider these three things:

1.) Change focus - We should now create and try to accomplish something new and focus to those things who will improve us with all the aspects whether if it is personal, career and especially relationship with Him. By changing focus we can move forward.
2.) Do not allow previous failures to meddle in our life - By forgetting the past doesn't mean we really have to forget those previous moments, we just need to learn from those experiences. Live a new life and avoid redoing past mistakes.
3.) Avoid depending on past victories - Don't stop dreaming! With all the accomplishments that we had previously, it is better to add more on the list, aim higher. Don't be contented with what you have and it is not bad to look for better and more victories as long as the intention is good.

Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a pure heart, Oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

We shouldn't be afraid about tomorrow and we should claim that this is the year of favor and victory for us. Let's renew ourselves in all the things especially with our relationship to Him. We are blessed that we have a chance to start and have a new beginning in our every failure or every chapter of our lives. This is because He is with us always. We can always have a brand new start with God if we will obey Him, acknowledge Him and follow Him. We should keep moving and move forward in the Lord as every new step will unfold more wisdom and more holiness in our lives. Let us set goals according to the word of God and start to look ahead of things. Be excited for new things that will be revealed to us in the coming days.

Psalm 3:14 - I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

As for me, after all those trials that happened, I was able to move on and started to build a new me. During those times, I believed that it will end as every beginning has an end and in vice versa, every end has a new beginning. We always have a chance to improve and rewrite another chapter of our existence. This blog is actually a fresh start to deepen my relationship with Him and share to others how great He is!